Rather than going there alone, the two friends chose to go together. This Wednesday, May 8, in a narrow, tree-lined street in the Ukrainian capital, Roman and Serhi, 25 and 27 years old, wait with dozens of other men in front of the entrance to an army recruitment center. It’s 7:30 a.m., the doors won’t open for another hour, the city is bustling. The two young garage employees who refused to give their last names, like other people we met, came to update their personal information at their local recruitment center. They will then go before a medical commission which will judge their state of health and their ability to take up arms. Later, perhaps, they will be called to fight.
Like the majority of other men waiting in the cold that morning, Roman and Serhi are there to comply with the law creating a database of the country’s conscripts, signed in April by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. This text aims to give the authorities an overview of the human resources at their disposal, as the country tries to accelerate the mobilization of new recruits into its army.
From May 18, all men aged 18 to 60 will have sixty days to identify themselves at a recruitment center or via an Internet application. After this period, they will be exposed to fines of several hundred euros and administrative penalties. This Wednesday morning, Roman, Serhi and the others only got ahead of themselves in order to avoid a possible rush of men in the recruitment centers starting on Saturday.
“There is a front line and men must serve, assures Vitaly with a serious air, an officer from the recruitment center leaning on a small coffee kiosk with two silent colleagues, a few meters from dozens of civilians. It doesn’t matter what they do in the army. We have a Ukrainian Constitution and this applies to all citizens. »
“If we have to go, we will go,” summarizes Roman, a clean-shaven young man with a calm look, dressed in black and sporty clothes, like his friend. “If we were afraid of fighting, we wouldn’t have come this morning. » At his side, Serhi adds. It is better, in his eyes, “come here on your own, rather than being brought on a bus”. The boy refers to mobilizable civilians arrested in the streets by recruiting officers and taken to military offices. An increasingly common practice, as volunteers to take up arms become rare. “I think it makes a difference when you join the army, continues Serhi. In any case, I want to believe it. »
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